Two years ago Paddy Considine played the obsessive loner in Shane Meadows's A Room For Romeo Brass. Considine, a non-professional who got the chance to make his screen debut partly due to a long-standing friendship with the director, gave a finely balanced performance that crackled with menace.

Both Considine and the film received a rousing reception at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Here was a star in the making. But not yet. The following Monday he was back at the dole office in Burton-on-Trent.

Considine, who initially trained to be a photographer, decided to concentrate on acting. His new film, Pawel Pawlikowski's The Last Resort, is another substantial effort from the British independent sector. In this Edinburgh favourite from last year he plays the unlikely romantic exiled to dreary Margate where he is a benign small-time entrepreneur. Catering to the needs of the local refugee population, he combines altruism and self-interest by deciding to help an attractive Russian illegal immigrant (Dina Korzun).

A delicate romance unfolds, framed by Pawlikowski's expressionist vision of the Kent coastal town as a Kafka-esque final destination. Considine is superb as an aspirant everyman; rich in sentiment but rarely sentimental.

The 27-year-old grew up on a council estate in Burton-on-Trent. After school he took a college drama course and met Meadows. The pair collaborated on a series of anarchic short films and formed a band. Then he completed a photography course, and later published and exhibited his images.

Considine has a scene-stealing cameo in the British comedy Born Romantic and last year he also filmed Happy Now, a black comedy starring Ioan Gruffudd and Susan Lynch.

He's currently working on 24 Hour Party People, the much-anticipated film about Factory Records and the Madchester scene. It will be only his fourth major film role but his choices to date are to be applauded. There are no wonky Britflick crime capers on his CV. Long may it continue.

 Last Resort opens on Friday

Five things you need to know about Paddy Considine

1 He studied at Brighton University. 2 He got a first-class degree in photography. 3 He specialises in photographic studies of bare-knuckle fighters. 4 He likes to improvise a lot on set. 5 In 24-Hour Party People he plays Rob Gretton, the man who discovered Joy Division.